Keeping the postal service up & running, one stamp at a time. Usually silly, sometimes cranky, occasionally a mix of the two.

Sweden

I have some good ones to record this time, maybe especially Donald Duck & the load of toys!

I don’t think Donald gets drawn any better than he does in the creation of comics for the European market. This postcard came to me from Germany, thanks to a Postcrossing Forum tag, and the art is beautiful! The sender clearly took a look through my Postcrossing Favorites.

Another person who knows what I like is my post pal in England, who tells me she thought of me when she spotted the toy-jammed card in a gift shop at a railway station. Even better are the Mr. Men & Little Miss stamps she affixed to the back (shared below)!

The gigantic crystal ball in Dalian, China’s Friendship Circle must be an amazing thing to see at night. I received that thanks to another Postcrossing Forum tag, from a sender who says he likes collecting postcards & mint stamps. As for me, if I were to eat stamps, I’d prefer they be chocolate.

Speaking of chocolate–look, POCKY! It’s another swap-bot upcycled cardboard card, and it’s from a sender in Canada who tells me:

“At our local 7-11 is a surprisingly large selection of imported snacks. Usually, it’s things like Crunchies or nori crackers, but we occasionally get special Pocky snacks or limited edition Caplicos. These Almond Crush Pocky snacks are pretty good, but I think it would have been better with dark chocolate. That said, it’s a very attractive box!”

Certainly better with dark chocolate–that’s the kind of Pocky I like! By the way, occasionally one of my local Asian supermarkets will have a Pocky promotion, with people there to give out samples of the many different flavors, and even give away huge inflatable toy Pocky sticks that can be banged together to make a lot of noise! No, I have not adopted one of those–yet.

Postcard United time: The architect beaver comes from Sweden. The sender writes:

“Mr. Castor doing woodwork? These books are written by Lars Klinting and are very popular in many countries, not only here in Sweden. Castor is a beaver, as you can see, often a very handy one.”

I looked all of this up online, and eventually found that before becoming an author/illustrator, Lars Klinting was himself an achitect. Also, as you can see clearly illustrated on his Amazon page, this character Castor took on the English name of Bruno–before changing it to Harvey!

Then we’ve got those gnomes, who I am definitely mailing off to my friend who actually likes these creatures. That’s a Postcrossing card from Tallinn, Estonia, and the sender told me that on New Year’s Day, “the weather outside is unfamiliar warm in the winter to +6°C, no snow!” Well, brrr.

I’ve received my first Postcrossing card from Sweden–and it’s meerkats! I love those li’l guys. The card’s sender lives in Stocka, Sweden, and she writes:

“One of your favorite cards had a suricate, so I hope you like this card too! 🙂 I’m 66, retired, and living with my husband at the Swedish eastcoast (+-300 km N of Stockholm). We live in a small village at the seaside and enjoy very much the beautiful nature and the quietness. 🙂 “

The mountainous scene is from Yangzhou, China, thanks to a Postcrossing Forum trade. The sender tells me about the art:

“This series of postcard is about Chinese ancient poems and paintings. And this one mostly expresses flash of time, and homesickness.”

Next comes another Postcrossing Forum card from the same country: the map watercolor came from a sender in Fuzhou, China, who told me a bit about herself:

“I like to read too. I like detective novels and of course, manga. XD I enjoy my summer holidays now.”

Aren’t those basset hounds great? It’s a regular Postcrossing receipt from an elementary school science teacher in Taichung, Taiwan, who writes about the food stamps you’ll see below:

The aubergine borshch is another Postcrossing card, and it came to me from Kazan, Russia, and, WHOA! IT TOOK 227 DAYS TO GET TO ME! Postcrossing card assignments expire after 60 days, clearing the slot so the sender can mail off another card. If another, uh, 138 days had passed, I wouldn’t have been able to register it! Where do you suppose the card was, that whole time? Nothing revolutionary in the message, just a 16-year-old writing that she hopes I will like her traditional cuisine. I don’t know if I’ve had this exact soup, but there is a restaurant near me that serves a tasty Hong Kong-style borscht!

Finally, the toon card, another regular Postcrossing incoming, is from Paris, France (well, in her profile, the sender says, “I live in Paris, but not in Paris”). The sender tells me she purchased the card “when I was in the UK at the beach.”

Stamps, postmarks, & stuff: I love the delicious top line of stamps here:

The Postcrossing card I sent to Germany has arrived! It traveled over 7 days and 5,765 miles. Now it’s time to send out another card. And this time, it’s to: Sweden. The card’s recipient is actually only in Trollhättan for the college semester; she lives near Shanghai, China! I sent her a copy of the same tiger postcard you see in the previous link.